A Permanently Unfinished Country

Immigrants from the Netherlands settled in the Midwest and developed the region’s agricultural economy in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The United States has been called “a permanently unfinished country,” because it has been continuously built and rebuilt by immigrants.

Indeed, it has been the world’s leading destination country for immigrants from the 19th century to the present.

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U.S. Students Use Vacations To Volunteer in Community Service

A student volunteer plays soccer with a local child in Ghana. (Cross-Cultural Solutions)

Although many university students in the United States use their spring break to soak up the sun on the beach or catch up on school work, more and more are using their brief time off campus to do the world some good.

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My Daughter Has Blossomed

Vikram Murthy (right) says that studying in the United States has benefitted his daughter Gayatri

Vikram Murthy, the father of international student Gayatri Murthy on the American University panel, tells another side of the story about international education. Murthy is an electrical engineer who lives and works in Mumbai, India.

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Folk Artists Add New Twist to Old Traditions

Flaco Jimenez playing the accordion on stage (Edward A. Ornelas/ San Antonio Express-News. Reprinted with permission.)

You can preserve the traditions you grew up with, yet still add a few new twists and turns. 

This year 14 artists known for their authenticity and creativity received the highest U.S. honor for folk and traditional arts, the National Heritage Fellowship.

Shown above is Leonardo “Flaco” Jiménez performing in San Antonio, Texas, the town of his birth. Jiménez, who is of Mexican heritage, plays conjunto — lively dance music featuring influences from Eastern Europe, Cuba and Mexico. More on folk music...

U.S. National Anthem Emerged from Small War with Big Impact

Oil Painting celebrating U.S. Independence from Great Britain

The United States’ national anthem, ​“The Star-Spangled Banner,” is familiar to almost every American, but the story of how the song originated is less well known.

It all started with the War of 1812 between the United States and Great Britain. When fighting began, the United States was a young nation still defining itself, but by the war’s end in 1815, a reinvigorated sense of patriotism and national pride had taken hold. As explained by the National Portrait Gallery’s new exhibition, 1812: A Nation Emerges, “This small war had great consequences.”

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Independence Day

Members of the East Greenwich, R.I., Kentish Guards perform during the Bristol, R.I., Independence Day Parade

The American Revolution — its war for independence from Britain — began as a small skirmish between British troops and armed colonists on April 19, 1775.

The British had set out from Boston, Massachusetts, to seize weapons and ammunition that revolutionary colonists had collected in nearby villages. At Lexington, they met a group of Minutemen, who got that name because they were said  be ready to fight in a minute. The Minutemen intended only a silent protest, and their leader told them not to shoot unless fired on first.

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U.S. Independence Day a Civic and Social Event

Friends and relatives gather for a picnic lunch at the McClellanville Fourth of July celebration in McClellanville, South Carolina.

The United States celebrates its Independence Day on July 4, a day of patriotic celebration and family events throughout the country.

In the words of Founding Father John Adams, the holiday would be “the great anniversary festival. It ought to be commemorated as the day of deliverance. … It ought to be solemnized with pomp and parade, with shows, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations, from one end of this continent to the other, from this time forward forever more.”

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